Rita's Secret
by birthdaycake-storytime-fall
Summary: When a young girl is involved in an RTC she is admitted to Holby City ED, but she is connected to Rita somehow and Rita won't say, so it is up to Connie to get the truth out of Rita. Rated T for minor language and potentially upsetting themes, although not detailed. One-shot.


**Sorry that so many of my other stories have been neglecting pretty much all of my other stories, I will be continuing them throughout the summer holidays since I've just finished high school so I now have a lot of free time.**

 **Hope you enjoy this story, which has been on my mind for a day or so now.**

 **Chapter 1**

"We've got Isla Dodd, 11 years old, involved in an RTC, KOed on scene, and not regained consciousness since." Iain wheeled the small girl through the doors of the emergency department and through reception where Rita, Charlie, and Noel were stood taking a small break.

Connie instantly approached the bed and ordered that the patient was taken through to resus. "Rita, Charlie, and Ethan I want you all with me!"

Rita froze.

No, it couldn't be.

Once Charlie, Ethan, Connie, and the patient were in resus Rita was still stood frozen on the spot. She couldn't move. She couldn't think straight.

Jez and Iain, who had taken the young patient through to resus, came back out again and into the main reception area.

"Err…Reets, you're wanted through there." Iain approached Rita, who was still stood in the same place, thinking that she hadn't heard Connie over the bustle of the chaotic emergency department. "Reets? Hello? Are you alright?"

Shaking her head, the first movement Rita had made in over a minute, a pool of tears began to overflow from her eyes. As Rita managed to pull her mind back into reality she looked into Iain's eyes for a moment before running towards her office and shutting herself inside.

* * *

Charlie's first shift back in the emergency department had just started as Connie was walking angrily towards the office that he shared with Rita. After been cleared of any wrong-doing he had been reinstated, and he was glad, the TV hadn't kept him entertained for long and he had already read all of the books that lined his selves.

Connie's harsh knock on the door to the nurses' office could be heard from the entrance where Charlie was still stood, mentally preparing himself to get back into work after two weeks off. Charlie found himself thinking that Connie hadn't been this annoyed with Rita since before their trip to Romania, and that he thought their professional relationship was relatively civil at this point.

Deciding to leave Connie and Rita to argue or discuss whatever they needed to Charlie headed towards the staffroom where he found a few nurses and Robyn tucking into a box of brownies.

* * *

"Rita!" After knocking on the door four times Connie was beginning to get very annoyed at the clinical nurse manager.

The door opened and Rita anxiously allowed Connie to enter the room before firmly closing the door behind the pair.

"What the hell, Rita?! If I tell you to do something, you do it!" Connie stood by Rita's desk, too close for Rita's comfort, whilst Rita sat in her chair.

"I…I'm sorry. I just…I can't tell you." Rita was avoiding making eye contact with Connie by looking down at her feet, and at the navy blue carpet beneath them.

"Oh, I don't think so. If you disobey me I want a bloody good reason why, and not just some pathetic excuse either, a REAL REASON!" Connie's threatening tone and overpowering stance was making Rita feel uneasy and very insecure.

"No, you don't understand. I can't. I really can't. I'm not meant to know." As Rita's breathing and tears became heavy Connie realised that there must be something seriously wrong with the nurse.

Connie pulled Charlie's desk chair close to Rita's and tried to relax herself to allow herself to calmly speak to Rita. "Rita, please speak to me."

"No I can't, you don't get it."

"Rita, what are you not supposed to know?" Connie's curiosity at Rita's previous statement was becoming too much for her to wonder.

"Please don't make me do this, Connie." Burying her head in her hands Rita's cried shook her body as she tensed her muscles.

Connie make relaxing sounds and whispered to Rita in an attempt to calm her down, as well as rubbing circles on her back. The attempt, although it was taking a while, was working.

It was ten minutes later when Rita's breathing had returned to normal, after going through some breathing exercises with Connie, and she had stopped crying.

"Rita, I'm sorry that I was angry at you. But I do need to know why you froze. What made you panic?" Connie took her hand off Rita's back and returned to her previous position in Charlie's chair, still sat next to Rita.

"If I tell you, this doesn't get out to anyone. Okay?" Rita stared into her eyes, daring her to promise and to not break that promise.

"Are you or the child at serious risk because of this?" Connie had to ask.

"No."

"Okay then, I promise not to tell a soul."

"She's my daughter."

Taken a back slightly Connie sat up straight in the chair. She was unaware that Rita even had children, and the supposed parents of Isla had not asked to see Rita, nor had they even mentioned the existence of another parent. But Rita had promised that the child was not in danger, and Connie had to trust Rita. "What do you mean?"

Rita's eyes began to fill with tears yet again at the thought of her daughter, and everything that she'd been through. "When Mark was arrested we had two children – Isla and another little girl called Sophie. Isla was 6 at the time, so it was 5 years ago now, and Sophie was only 6 weeks old. Social services got involved, even though Mark was in prison he was a paedophile and a father. I was ill – mentally ill. The kids got put in temporary foster care. Then the social worker told me that it was best for the kids, and for me, if they were adopted."

Rita broke down completely, emotion flooding out of her that had obviously been harboured for too long.

"I tried to argue. They wouldn't let me. 3 months after Mark had been arrested, the kids had been adopted. I was still ill; I was more depressed not being able to see my children. I know it's her. I'm not meant to see her, or speak to her, or even to know who she is, until she is at least 18 and she comes to find me. She looks the same as she used to, just a bit older. And she looks like me. She always did." With a hand full of tissues Rita wiped her eyes, smudging a lot of her make-up in the process, and tried to compose herself.

"Her sister was brought in. 5 years old. Sophie Dodd."

* * *

Through Connie Rita had found out that Isla was going to be kept on a ward upstairs for about a week, but she would then go home as she was not too seriously injured. Sophie had a broken arm that would heal in 6-8 weeks, but otherwise she hadn't been injured.

Rita had been told that, even in these specific circumstances, that she was not going to be allowed to see either of her children, and that they were not to know that she was a nurse at the hospital they were being treated at. Rita had contacted her social worker to ask for information, but the only response she received was that they weren't her children – not legally anyway, and that science didn't count – so she wouldn't be able to do anything.

Iain had taken Rita home and allowed her to tell him everything that she needed to, and he allowed her to cry as much as she needed to. The couple spent the night in each other's arms, Iain knowing that breaking her heart now would be impossible.

 **I'm pretty glad with the way this turned out, especially since I wrote it all today. Please leave a review if you liked it. I'll be working on updating my other stories, as well as New Beginnings, from now on with my extended holiday!**


End file.
